Long Haul Airplane Travel With Kids, Part 3: Getting Little Traveler to Sleep on the Plane and Gear

If you are new to the series, start first by reading Part 1 and Part 2.

If your baby needs a bassinet, you’ll be in the bulkhead.  The bassinet unfortunately takes up quite a bit of your space, even in business class.  I’m sure it’s possible, but it doesn’t seem to be something that you can plop up and down or takeaway as you need or don’t need it.  The flight attendant assembles it to ensure that it’s done properly.  This is usually after the plane is in the air. Check with the airline regarding the length dimensions and remember that they are usually the exterior dimensions.  La Jolla Girl was a very long baby and grew out of the bassinet quite quickly even though she was far away from the weight requirement.  I found the bassinets to be quite nice actually and she was even given silk bedding once.  I didn’t tell them she had acid reflux .   If you don’t need a bassinet, you might want to think about whether or not you want the bulkhead since you have to put your bag in the overhead compartment during take off and landing.  There’s no space to store it there, otherwise. I think it’s still worth it but I know this aspect bothers some people.

Because La Jolla Girl grew out of the bassinet so quickly, we were then stuck in a weird situation where she couldn’t exactly sit upright in her own seat at 6 months, but she had to have her own seat.  I was just not going to sit with her on my lap the entire way, since I was flying sans husband.  You have the option to have kids on your lap usually up until 2 years of age.  We did that once on a 2 hour flight to Bangkok and we thought we were going to die.  Japan Airlines, for instance, will install a Britax convertible car seat in their airplane seats should you need it.  It must be requested well in advance and once it’s installed, that’s it.  It’s there for the rest of the flight whether it works for you or not.  I made that mistake once.  That car seat served as expensive toy storage because La Jolla Girl wasn’t used to it, didn’t like it, so she rode on my lap the entire flight.  Unpleasant.   Some airlines also will not allow you to strap in your rear facing infant car seat.  Cathay Pacific will not.  I took our Graco infant seat everywhere and was seriously peeved that I couldn’t use it on the plane.  It probably was just as well since we seemed to always function better without any sort of restraint.   Cathay does provide a baby seat belt that attaches to mine.  I hold her during takeoff and landing usually with this seat belt. La Jolla Girl HATES it but we manage.

I did also buy the CARES child aviation restraint system.  It’s very, very easy to use and weighs practically nothing.  I’m not sure that it’s entirely necessary long haul and I applaud your parenting skills if you have a kid that will sit in it for 10+ hours straight (or even a few hours!).  Anyway, long haul has usually more unwritten, relaxed “keep your kid in the seat” requirements than domestic.  I found that if the seat is either upright or fully reclined, and La Jolla Girl fell asleep wearing the CARES, she could actually slide down off the seat as a result of the planes vibrations.  She did this a few times. There is no between the legs strap to keep her up, like in her stroller or car seat.   We stopped using the CARES eventually but it’s still a good product.

Whether or not you change a diaper in your seat, is up to you.  I’m not going to pass judgement.  I did it only a handful of times and only if it’s #1.  I love the Skip Hop Pronto Diaper Changer Kit (or you can find it at Land of Nod -Travel Folding Changer Kit for Babies – Folding Changer (Black) Folded: 11) because it was big enough to cover the changing table in the bathrooms and easy to clean.  I would suggest that you bring diaper disposal bags to toss the diapers in the bathroom trash.  In Hong Kong, they are called nappy sacks and I’ve not shopped for them  in the US yet so I can’t tell you where to find them.   They are scented on the inside like baby powder to mask the smell.  You could even use a plastic shopping bag.  It’s the polite thing to do, people.  You’ll just get a few less dirty looks.

So I’ve always got 2 giant carry ons, but I always check my stroller at the gate.  I also bring my Ergo carrier.  La Jolla Girl is too tired sometimes after getting off the plane, and only wants to be carried. Now she rides on my back.  So I carry her in the Ergo and toss the carry on bags in the stroller.  I do HATE waiting for the stupid stroller at the gate.  Practically the entire plane disembarks before I get it sometimes.

Sleeping:

This is a hotly debated topic.  I asked our pediatrician if it would be ok to give La Jolla Girl Children’s Benadryl on our next long haul flight when she was about 9 months old.  This was after the horrible flight I mentioned in my first post where she screamed for 15 hours straight.  She said that was totally fine and gave me dosing instructions based on weight.  Dosing is not on the box for younger children.  Obviously, don’t try to do this yourself because you MUST to check with your Dr. Children’s Benadryl can also have the REVERSE effect where the child can get totally hyper active.  You have to test drive it first to make sure you don’t get this result.

I gave her the Benadryl when we boarded the plane and it knocked her out for a very pleasant 4 hours.  That’s a long, long time for La Jolla Girl because she does not sleep very well on airplanes, like her mother.   I gave her a second dose 8 or so hours later, except that proved to be only about an hour of sleep. The next flight we took, she gagged on it and spit it out.  I could never get her to take it again. To be honest, it didn’t matter because we had learned how to cope.  It’s a pink liquid that looks like it tastes awful. You can buy prefilled spoons but you have to make sure that’s the right dosage for your child.

The sleep clinc we went to insisted that we have something that is a “sleep cue” so that every time she sees it, she knows come hell or high water, that she’s going to sleep.  This was a soft little duck blanket.  This worked on the plane, actually.  We’d bust it out on the plane and she’d immediately start sucking her fingers and try to put herself to sleep. She just never could sleep for long stretches on planes though, and as she got older she started taking the duck everywhere, just ask my friends. So then that became less helpful.

Some people swear up and down that Infant Tylenol causes drowsiness.  It doesn’t, just ask your Dr.  What could happen is that the Infant Tylenol may relieve some ear pressure that makes it easier for baby to sleep.  My midwife told me that on takeoff and landing if La Jolla Girl was ever starting to pull on her ears or fuss, give her Infant Tylenol immediately.  That’s one of the things that I always have stuffed in a seat pocket for easy access. For babies and toddlers, if they are still using a pacifier, give it to them or give them something to eat. This will help with the ear pressure too. So does nursing on takeoff and landing.

Saline: La Jolla Girl’s nose bothers her on the plane. Mine does too. I buy children’s saline nasal spray to use on the airplane. She doesn’t mind it, actually and now asks for it when her nose feels dry.

Bandaids: Not always easily accessible though they obviously have first aid kits on the plane. I bring my own because there can be sharp bits on the seats. I also bring a nail file because one flight she had a hang nail and scratched herself up. That was miserable.

The feedback I’ve received regarding older kids, the little PSPs and Nintendos seem to solve all sorts of problems. One parent said that they restrict using it so that it’s a treat on the plane and holds interest better.

I have flown countless airlines/airplanes all over the world and my favorite is a Cathay Pacific 747. That’s why I used their plane in my post photo! We meant to fly the A380 from Singapore but never got around to it.

Next up:  A summary and a better organized checklist of everything you should take on the plane. Thanks to everyone who has helped me with this!

Here are links to the rest of the series:

Long Haul Airplane Travel With Young Kids, Part 1: Planning Your Flight and Jet Lag
Long Haul Travel With Young Kids, Part 2: What to Bring
Long Haul Airplane Travel With Young Kids, Part 4: The Packing List and Last Thoughts

I have also tagged this series as my favorite on Tip Junkie!

Tagged as: Airplane, Baby, Kids, Long Haul Travel With Kids, Travel